"L'Arlésienne" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, written by Alphonse Daudet and first published in his collection '' Letters From My Windmill'' (''Lettres de mon moulin'') in 1869. On a commission from

Léon Carvalho Léon Carvalho (18 January 1825 – 29 December 1897) was a French impresario and stage director. Biography Born Léon Carvaille in Port Louis, British Mauritius, he came to France at an early age. He studied at the Paris Conservatory an ...

, the author transformed the story in 1872 into a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

in three acts and five tableaux with music and chorus.

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...

wrote

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

for the play's first production on 1 October 1872, at the Vaudeville Theatre (now the Gaumont). The play was not successful and closed after only 21 performances. The music score was later used for two suites of the same name, the first established by Bizet himself in November 1872, the second after Bizet's 1875 death, by

Ernest Guiraud Ernest Guiraud (; 23 June 18376 May 1892) was an American-born French composer and music teacher. He is best known for writing the traditional orchestral recitatives used for Bizet's opera '' Carmen'' and for Offenbach's opera '' Les contes d ...

. Another play was originally scheduled for the night of 1 October 1872, but it was withdrawn by the censors at the last minute and ''L'Arlésienne'' was substituted. Many of the patrons were disappointed with this change. Daudet's play formed the basis of the Italian opera '' L'arlesiana'' (1897) with text by Leopoldo Marenco and music by Francesco Cilea. On 8 March 1999, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of Daudet's play entitled ''The Girl from Arles'', written by and translated from the French by Michael Robson and directed by Enyd Williams, with Frances Jeater as Rose Mamaï, John Woodvine as Balthazar, Mary Wimbush as Madame Renaud, Geoffrey Whitehead as Francet Mamaï, Gavin Muir as Mitifio, Giles Fagan as Frederi, Tilly Gaunt as Vivette and Ben Crowe as Marc.

Roles

Plot

The play is set in

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

, France. ''L’Arlésienne'', which translates to "the girl from

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

", is loved by a young peasant Fréderi. However, upon discovering her infidelity prior to their wedding date, Fréderi approaches madness. His family tries at great length to "save" their son, but eventually Fréderi commits suicide by jumping off a balcony. Although the drama was based on the author's short story of the same name, first published in the newspaper ''L'Événement'' (''The Event'', 1866), and later in his collection ''Lettres de mon moulin'' ('' Letters from My Windmill'', 1869), the plot was originally inspired by a real event: the suicide of a nephew of writer Frédéric Mistral as a consequence of ''amour fou''. Macdonald, Hugh, The Bizet Catalo
Macdonald, Hugh, ''The Bizet Catalog''
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Trivia

Because the title character is never shown in the play, ''Arlésienne'' is used in modern French to describe a person who is prominently absent from a place or a situation, especially an

unseen character An unseen character in theatre, comics, film or television, or a silent character in radio or literature, is a character who is mentioned but not directly known to the audience, but who advances the action of the plot in a significant way, and w ...

in a literary work.

References

1869 short stories 1872 plays Short stories by Alphonse Daudet Camargue {{1860s-novel-stub